Xena's Bright Surface: What's going on?

[andy lloyd]

An astronomical Conumdrum about the Outer Solar System:

 

For some time astronomers have been finding new minor planets beyond Pluto, in the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt. Many of these objects have exhibited unusual properties, and anomalous orbital patterns. I favour the presence of a very massive planet lurking in the darkness beyond Pluto to explain this growing list of anomalies.

 

Now, quite a few of the astronomers who actually hunt for these objects have noticed the pattern I’ve been arguing for. And they have hesitantly suggested something massive might be the cause of the strange behaviour of the newly-discovered minor planets. But, knowing how crazy that sounds to normal folk, they have quickly added that such an object cannot be there anymore, so must have been a companion at the time of the Sun’s birth that was subsequently lost. In other words, they have suggested that a long-gone Dark Star companion once existed which set the minor planets into their crazy little dances which we are now observing.

 

I’ve continued to argue that the companion is still present, waiting to be discovered. And now a piece of evidence has emerged which suggests this very possibility.

 

One of the minor planets, dubbed ‘Xena’, is about the same size as Pluto. It was recently imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Oddly, it has a very, very bright and reflective surface. For an object which always remains more distant than Pluto, this is highly irregular, and it has the astronomers baffled. Over time it should have become dusty and grey, rather than icy and white.

 

For some reason, its surface is being replenished over time. Yet it is too distant to undergo cometary activity, and too small to generate enough internal heat to boil out liquid from inside itself. The properties of Xena are just like a small moon orbiting around a massive gas giant. Yet Xena is on its own, in the cold expanse of the space beyond Pluto. So the image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope makes no sense.

 

Unless, that is, you allow for the presence of a massive object out there which Xena periodically encounters. Under those circumstances, the nature of its surface features becomes readily explainable: As Xena approaches what would have to be a Dark Star, it begins to act like a comet, boiling up inside and shedding water and other volatiles onto its surface and out into space. This would then account for its current bright appearance.

 

The reason why this moves us forward is that this process must be current and on-going. A long-gone Dark Star could not account for the current high reflectivity of Xena’s surface. One should still be out there. The following link has explanatory graphics to help develop this argument:

 

http://www.darkstar1.co.uk/xena.html

 

The real question is: Where is it? It's effect is measurable. Its presence has yet to be determined directly.

[The Peon]

Thats a pretty neat speculation. I can't wait (probobly not in my lifetime) when man can explore the outer solar system in much greater detail.

[sunspot]

How big would the darkstar need to be to get the results observed? I have a theory that could explain the renewal of the surface and the observation it occurs only at its farthest orbital path from the sun. You said this was a zone of all kinds of objects both large and small. Maybe Xena goes through a gravel or hail belt that erodes the surface as it passes. This would heat and polish the surface every trip through the car wash.